One Huge Blog Post!

Hello everyone! It's Cora! My mama is so busy right now that I decided I would do a little blogging tonight. We have been so busy! We've been to the beach, a family reunion in the mountains, Morgan's first birthday party, met my newest cousin, Caroline and oh yeah- we have decided to sell our house! It is a very exciting time! Mama and Daddy are a little sad because they love our house so much but it's time to move on. More info will follow soon, I'm sure.

Well, I said that we have had a lot going on. Here goes!

Morgan's 1st Birthday Party! She had a farm party complete with goat hayrides! Sweet! We also had authentic shrimp boil. I LOVE corn on the cob! The shrimp wasn't bad either. Yum! :)

Tannar riding the goat. Anything to make David smile- this worked.

Happy Birthday, Morgan!

This is Daddy and me with my fancy-shmancy Kelty backpack. Too bad they couldn't spring for some hiking boots for me. We are getting ready to enter Linville Caverns. They say that every North Carolinian has to do it...

Rock Climbing

My head = The Highest Point East of the Mississippi

(We are on top of Mt. Mitchell)

This is the church where my great-great grandmother is buried and several other relatives, some from well before the Civil War.

My Daddy thought the outhouse was hilarious.

This is me after my first real hike. I'm exhausted!

During our trip to the mountains, we climbed the mountain where my great grandmother (Cora) and her mother (Zipporah) were both born. The only thing left is the rock chimney from the house and the cemetery. It is so beautiful up there. We followed an old wagon road most of the way.

Mama and Me- we're mountain girls. It's in our blood.

The Lonon reunion was held at the Concord Methodist Church in Marion. It is so beautiful.

Gotta love good food and good music. Those are more of "my people" playing bluegrass. They were awesome! They even played "You Are My Sunshine" It is one of our favorites. Gram used to sing it to Mama and Mama sings it to me. Perfect.

Yummy! I love real mac and cheese, fried chicken and a big ol' slab of fresh baked bread.

Strike a pose! Why do you figure that when I stay with Gram, we never get out of our pajamas before lunch time?

Me with JD, the miniature donkey

One more dip at Home by the Sea

Bye-Bye Summer

A lot has happened...

It has been a while since our last post. So much has happened. Sadly, I lost my dear Aunt Joanie on Friday in a tragic accident. Our family has come together like we always do. We've leaned on each other, cried with each other and marveled at the generosity of those around us. Our family is so sad but, even through the sadness, we've smiled a lot in the past six days. To know our family, is to know that we are the happiest when we are together. We have countless memories that we hold so dear, of those that are still here and of those who have now gone.

I'll always look at these pictures (taken the weekend before last) and remember seeing Aunt Joanie. The day before they were they were taken, she stopped in at Mama's house and told us that she had a new calf. She wanted to see if Cora wanted to go and see it. Well, Cora was asleep so we passed. The next morning (Labor Day) the cows were right up against the fence. We quickly put our shoes on with our pajamas, grabbed some bread to feed the bull and walked out to the pasture. By the time we got there, they were walking away. We figured that Aunt Joanie was at the other end of the pasture ready to feed up. (They knew she had better stuff for them to eat than loaf bread.) Cora did end up seeing the bull and a mama and calf for a minute. We then decided to stay outside and play with Matt the Cat for a little while.

*Please try to ignore the fact that Cora's pajamas appear to be 5 sizes too small. The pants fit great, the top is another story. She had just had a really big breakfast. *wink. wink.*

This is Cora with Matt. She decided to feed the bread to the cat. He was not interested.

Fun at School

I attend Master's Garden Preschool. Daddy takes me in the morning and Mama gets me in the afternoon. I really love school! I have lots of friends. My best friend is Jarrett. My other friends are Noe-Lani, Grant and Ava. We play outside a lot and get really dirty. Mama does not understand how that happens because we have rubber mulch. But we find a way.

These are pictures of me at school. In one picture, I am on the steps with Grant. In the other picture I am looking for lizards. Mama and I look for lizards every day. They used to be outside a lot but we can't find them much now.

Hip Hop Baby

Cora is really starting to enjoy dancing. We are quickly learning that her favorite type of music is Hip Hop. When we scan radio stations she starts dancing when we get to hip hop and rap stations... We were trying to get her to dance today so we put the tv on BET. Sure enough, Mariah Carey was waiting for her favorite back-up dancer. Cora delivered. Keep in mind that Cora had been under general anesthesia just an hour and a half earlier for her ear surgery. I wonder if any of the neighbors have seen the 3 of us dancing in the kitchen to K97.5. Oh well. Enjoy the movie!

*How much do you love her nightgown?! You have to have a new gown when you go to the hospital, right?

Grandma Jennie's Garden

Where shall I start?

We had a fabulous time in Reidsville on Sunday. We ate lunch with the Allens. Ms. Jennie has the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen! She always does. I have been telling her for years that when I have a little girl one day, I am going to bring her out her to play-- and I am going to take a million pictures. I got my chance on Sunday! It was great fun until Cora got a little sleepy and we had to head out. Enjoy the pictures of the beautiful flowers & and beautiful Cora, of course!

Oh, you said don't pick... okay.
a great picture of Coy and Cora

Beautiful impatiens and beautiful girl being impatient, isn't that ironic...

All better now!

Love the drool and red cry face

Get your motor running! Da da da da DA DA!

Clear the highways! I've got my first official set of wheels! I recieved so many wonderful gifts but this one didn't find me until Sunday. Will and Laurel-Ann chipped in for a "group gift" and got me a tricycle! It is the coolest! Mama and Daddy can steer and push, and well, it's just a chair with wheels and a bell right now but I love it! What? Of course that's not one of Daisy's old Christmas collars being used as a seat belt! Why would you ask such a thing? Now all I need is a pair of pink fuzzy dice to hang from the handle bars.

Thank you to everyone. I got so many nice things. What will I get for my 2nd birthday? A car, real estate, livestock? Oh yeah, I already have that last one! Thanks for making my 1st birthday so special. You all are so sweet. I love you very much! Whheeee! Cruisin' in my pj's!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Cora!

Hi, this is Cora. Now that I am a 1 year old, I am going to start doing some of the posting myself. Today I celebrated my first birthday with family and friends at my house. The people who came were Carson, Owen, Tannar and John Marshall. Their parents came too. All of my grandparents were there as well. We had a kiddie pool party. Mama and Daddy had all kinds of fun things for us to do. We had a pool, splash mat, beach balls everywhere, a ball pit and even the beach (well, seashells on a blanket under an umbrella)!Wow! I woke up from a nap and look at my front yard! That was some nap! Here are pictures of the kids at my party. Above are John Marshall and Tannar. Below are Owen, Me and Carson. Yup, all boys.

My Grandparents

I got so many presents like books, clothes, puzzles, a sand box, a wagon, blocks and other things too! We had very yummy food. My favorite was the cake. My Gram made two, one for me to have and one for everyone else. They both looked like fish. I didn’t make much of a mess like everyone expected. I had not had cake, icing or candy… until today. The cake had candy orange slices and I chewed on them for a while.

All for me?! Thanks for the cakes Gram. They were delish!

Mama just reminded me that I needed to mention that I went to the doctor for my checkup yesterday. It was great until those SHOTS! Yawza, they hurt! Three in one arm! Yes, I cried for the shots but not for the finger prick. Before they started sticking me with needles the doctor said that I look great. She told Mama and Daddy a lot of numbers about how big I am. I am a little weak on percents so I’ll let Mama take over from here.

Thanks for reading my blog. I’ll write again soon.

ONE YEAR OLD- It is amazing to see what I looked like this time last year. I was a peanut! I'm such a big girl now.

Whew, just got the computer back from Cora. She wanted me to take over with the measurements. Weight: 21 lb 14.5 oz (65%), Length: 31.75 inches(off of the charts, the doctor said that Cora is the length of an average 18 month old), head: 46.75 cm (90%- big ol’ noggin). The doctor was very pleased with Cora’s progress. She is convinced that Cora is going to be very tall.

I know that every month I say that I can’t believe that Cora is growing so fast and that the time is passing so quickly. It is really sinking in now. During the last 48 hours or so Coy and I keep thinking of what we were doing “right now, 1 year ago”, “right now, 1 year ago”, “right now, 1 year ago”-- I feel like we’ve said it a hundred times- “Right now, 1 year ago I called you to tell you that you needed to come back home. You were not going to work today”. “Right now, 1 year ago we arrived at the hospital”. “Right now, 1 year ago we met our precious daughter”. (Wow, getting emotional now.) For that one we actually woke Cora and sang to her. Yes, she was born at 12:47am. We did it anyway.

I feel like I could write pages and pages tonight but I am going to stop. Thanks to everyone who have sent birthday wishes this way. We had a terrific day. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! I love you so much!